【 Epilogue 】

That night, the cold and hard wooden floor took the first place in my “Best places I ever slept on” leaderboard followed by “Under a Bovur”.

I had defeated Magnus once and for all and he was now in a cell rotting with his comrades. The Boss he was talking about is the mastermind behind every crime they committed but no clues were found to even begin understanding who he was. As long as I could keep on living without getting in his tracks and fall again in this vicious circle of me being in danger constantly, I was happy.

By chance, I had formed a Unit to work with and get some money. Repaying the debt was a faraway dream and I was also starting from nothing, with time and patience in 50 maybe even 60 years I could repay Roxy in full.

Searching jobs Arya and I could actually accomplish was now a top priority, some low-level quests were issued that morning and no one had taken them yet. I had to rush as soon as I woke up to get as many as I could before other mercenaries took them.

I had to maybe borrow some books to teach Arya how to fight with a dagger and maybe learn something as well. The other books Clara prepared for me were laying on the desk. I had packed them up again once I was done reading. Going to the Archive might have been a good idea.

The sun was rising outside the window. My back was in pain from laying on the planks.

“Knock Knock”

This brought a flashback to my head. I moved aside from the door fearing it might have exploded again. The knocking woke up Arya who was peacefully sleeping on my bed.

“Can you open the door, Rei?”

“I’m not sure if I want to” I had a bad feeling.

The iron handle turned on its own and the door opened slowly. Roxy entered the room with her weapon in the holster. Did she have a change of heart during the night? This could be what the books I read described as the ‘calm before the storm’

“Good morning!” she smiled

“Where’s the real Roxy?!” I screamed grabbing my sword from the rack and unsheathing it

“Lower your weapon Misfit, I haven’t forgotten what you did yesterday” with a quick hand motion the gun fired at my face.

Yes, she was indeed the real Roxy. The icicle impacted my forehead and launched me towards the desk.

“I wasn’t here for you anyway. Arya, your Brooch came. I personally chose the design so I hope it fits you well. Since you're a Rookie too, your rank will be Iron, just like that thing slumped over there”

“I have feelings too you know” I ripped the ice off my head.

Arya left the bed and let Roxy pin the Guild’s Brooch on her. The metal plaque was shaped after a flower I have never seen before.

“It’s a Blue Orchid. In Drak we believe this flower represents dreams getting true. Even though most of these flowers are used to make potions we have a festival every year in Lyria where we make wishes offering Blue Orchids. I hope this helps make yours come true”

“Thank you” Arya gazed at her Brooch “I’ll treasure this”

“Why is mine a shield then?” I wanted to know if mine had a special meaning too.

“I just had that lying around. Do you think I knew I would find you in the plaza?”

She left the room convincing herself that letting me join the Guild had been a good choice and not a complete waste of time and resources. Nice way to start the day! I just wanted to bury my head into a pillow and spend the rest of the day in silence.

“Let’s look for Jobs Rei!”

“Sure” she was strangely jolly

The dining room below was empty. Only Chevy was hanging around cleaning the windows with a cloth. I waved at her and briefly introduced her to Arya. My coworker was holding my gilet partially hiding behind me. I could imagine she was not yet convinced of her new life. That was a reaction a normal person should have when entering a mercenary guild. The fact that I went full ahead without even questioning it was crazy…

“This is new”

Next to the bulletin board holding the jobs, another one was hanging. I was sure it wasn’t there the day before. The sign on top read ‘Bounties’.

It was full of parchments that looked like the ones for jobs except they all presented a mugshot of someone drawn on it. A name was written above the drawing and various amounts of Karses underneath.

“Since you managed to collect 4 bounties in one shot the guards opted to move the Wanted section inside the Guild. The monetary reward might push some mercenaries to become Hunters and the Guards would have a lot of work off their shoulders. It’s a win-win situation, one that I’m very fond of”

Roxy stood menacingly behind me. I didn’t even notice her presence before she spoke. She was on a different level from anyone. I never looked before but her Brooch pearl had a shiny light blue texture on it. She was a Diamond Rank, five whole ranks above me.

“Why doesn’t this one have a face as well?” Arya pointed at one of the papers.

Only the drawing of a back was shown. A massive wolf insignia was tattooed on it, starting from the base of the neck all the way to the tailbone. ‘Xander’ was the name of the man.

“No one has ever seen his face. The only glimpse of evidence we have is this description of a bystander when one of the crimes took place. The wolf is the crest of one of the most renowned noble families around Lyria. Apparently, he is one of their slaves that escaped”

“What kind of criminal is he?” Arya was shaken just by that brief description.

“To this day he has murdered over 30 people. All of them were lesser nobles who weren’t so much of a good citizen. All of them were found dead in an alley. But don’t let that scare you!”

“How can I not be scared after this…” even my hands were shaking now

“Well, whatever. It was you who asked” Roxy left us as if she didn’t just drop a bomb on us.

“Let’s, let’s look for a job”

We began browsing the bulletin board which was plastered with different jobs and quests of any kind. Most of them were out of our league so we set them aside. ‘Dragon killin’, ‘Kobold’s Infestation’, ‘Giant Spider Mating Season’ were just some of the incredible and strange jobs offered.

“We can do this!” Arya ripped one of the papers from the board “It says Iron Rank or above, 2 or more people”

“We meet the criteria. What’s it about?”

“Oh no, no no no” she tried to put it back

“Wait let me see” I swiftly stole the job from her hands “Giant Rat Cleaning’ in Lyria’s sewage…”

“Rats are not cool, imagine Giant ones!” Arya squeaked at the thought “I just got back to living a normal life, I don’t want to dirty my clothes in sewage water. I know I was a slave until some time ago but it still is too much”

“Ok let’s search for another one”

We spent the following hour browsing without result. Mercenaries started entering the inn and a crowd formed behind us. Everyone was waiting their turn to pick the jobs but we were in the way.

“Arya I’m sorry but we have to do this”

“Pleaseeee, anything but this”

“Come on, it’s 20 Karses per Rat! It’s the same as killing a Goblin. This is a one time offer” I tried to convince her “Think of the money we can make”

“I would do it for the money. The problem is I want to stop being filthy all the time. You don’t know in what awful conditions I had to live in every day. Please understand me”

“You can just wash that off later in the public baths!”

“Public baths?”

“Yes”

“With hot water?” she bit her finger.

“Yes” the bait was set. I just needed to lure her in.

“I can stay there as long as I want?” her pupils began expanding.

“Well, as long as you don’t faint from the heat”

“How much does it cost?”

“Half a Giant Rat”

“Mhh” she started considering pros and cons in her head “Ok, Deal”

I grabbed the paper again and informed Roxy of our decision. She asked Arya if I forced her into this, she was my accomplice now and she took my side telling the Owner it was all she wanted to do.

We left the Full Moon showered by gazes from other mercenaries. They were happy we were leaving since we had wasted their precious time. I could already feel the Karses clinking in my pockets, and my debt being a little bit smaller than usual. I jotted down the location in my notebook and showed Arya the map of the city once more.

As soon as we set foot outside I was bathed in sunlight. The heat of the summer was slowly fading away. Autumn was coming soon. Leaves were flying, carried by the wind. What a time to be alive...again.

“Move, Rei!” Arya took my hand and yanked me in the street “I don’t want to waste any more time I could spend drowning in hot water”

That scene felt familiar, I was truly happy at that moment. Who would have known that from that point forward my life would have changed completely? I stretched my arms up in the sky and followed Arya towards our destination.

“It’s time to make some money”  

Hey! Ecspo here. Hope you liked this chapter!

Since this is my first serious work and also my first work in English I would very much appreciate any tips, critiques, comments of any kind. Tell me if the chapters are too long, short, or whatever, it would mean a lot to me.